Love's Other Name
by Captain Campion
Summary: Season 1: A beautiful planet offers hope to the wandering Alphans; See profile for important notes.
1. Chapter 1

Sandra voiced the thoughts of everyone in Main Mission: "It is beautiful."

Commander Koenig—standing on the short flight of stairs that linked his office with the nerve center of Alpha Moon base—agreed, but with a caveat, "Yes…but dangerous, too."

The main view screen cycled through images starting with the twin red and blue sub giant stars composing the heart of the binary system. Next came a gaseous, crimson cloud littered with sparkling energy. Then a pair of comets streaking through the system side by side, their tails glowing in golden plumes.

Tanya Alexander—from her station at the center of Main Mission—remarked, "It is like some kind of cosmic art gallery."

"Kano?"

Alpha's computer expert finished retrieving data from his console and replied to the Commander: "Computer projects a stable path through the system. No collision concerns and we should not be affected by gravitational forces in this system."

Sandra quipped, "Ask computer if it has ever seen a solar system as beautiful as this."

Kano answered dryly, "Computer is a machine, not an art critic."

"Okay then," Koenig descended the stairs and stood behind Paul Morrow who sat at the head of the ring of consoles that comprised Main Mission. "We're going to make it through. But is there anything more here than pretty pictures?"

Professor Victor Bergman moved away from the bank of computer panels situated beneath the Main Mission balcony and joined the discussion. He held a small slip of paper and read from it as he walked.

"Yes, well, let's see here…four planets in the system, one is a gas giant so that's no good…"

Paul Morrow served as the voice of pessimism as he pointed out, "Professor, a binary star system rarely has any planets suitable for life."

Tanya told Paul to, "Stop putting a damper on things."

"Just don't want to get hopes up. We've had that before."

"Paul is right, John. Binary star systems rarely have planets with stable orbits, let alone ones within the twin suns' habitable zone."

"You see," Paul said. "No sense getting our hopes up."

Bergman repeated, "Rarely would best describe it, yes."

"Okay Victor, let's have it," Koenig ran a hand over his eyes as he listened in expectation of bad news.

"But one has an S-type orbit, John," Victor made a tight fist with his spare hand and emphasized for all to see, "It's stable."

"And in the habitat zone?" Paul stood. Indeed, all the personnel in Main Mission honed in on Professor Bergman.

"Don't take my word for it," the Professor toyed with them. He raised his COM link and pointed it at the main viewer. After a quick beep, the screen went dark. "Listen to what computer has to say."

Block-type words appeared on the screen in unison with the monotone, vaguely female voice of computer.

"PLANET DESIGNATE OPAL FOUR…OXYGEN ATMOSPHERE… TEMPERATE CLIMATE…GRAVITY .98 EARTH…IDEAL FOR HUMAN LIFE."

Main Mission erupted in cheers. John Koenig tried to gain a handle on the enthusiasm at about the same time Helen Russell walked in.

"John? Did I miss something?"

Instead of answering her he addressed the staff with his hands held aloft.

"Wait a second, now everybody calm down. This is good news but I don't want to get too excited until we go down there and check it out."

Helena asked again, "Check what out?"

"This," Paul told her and touched a switch on his control panel.

The view screen flickered and then framed a gorgeous sphere of yellow and orange turning slowly while basking in the light of twin suns.

"Opal Four," Victor said. "We should be in range for the next three days."

"Plenty of time for Operation Exodus," Paul jumped as the wave of enthusiasm overtook even his normally-stoic self. "Eagle flight time is only four hours."

"What are those?" Sandra asked as two twirling circles came in to view on the planet's atmosphere. One red, the other blue.

"Storms, I think," Victor said.

"They remind me of the red spot on Jupiter," Paul noted.

"Yes," Bergman agreed as he scratched his head. "According to computer each storm is approximately one hundred miles in diameter."

Kano corrected, "One hundred and three point seven and ninety-eight point five, to be exact." He smiled at Victor as he added, "Computer never approximates."

"Either way," Paul said, "We're not going to let a little storm spoil a picnic, are we Commander?"

Helena gasped, "It's beautiful."

"Beauty is more than skin deep," Koenig brought them back to reality. "Phase one begins immediately. Victor, Helena, you'll come with me to the planet surface. Paul, I want you and Tanya to come along too and give this place a technical readout from top to bottom."

"My pleasure, commander," Tanya said as she smiled broadly at the thought of joining a landing party.

Koenig went on, "Get Winters up here to run Main Mission while we're gone. Kano, keep checking computer's figures. If this is as good as it looks…well, I want to be sure."

---

Eagle One lifted off from the moon surface. It traveled the void of space for four hours. During the trip, both the onboard computers and Alpha's main computer remained focused on the planet. The news remained good. Several large continents…a pair of oceans and hundreds of smaller bodies of water…mountains and plains…two ice-capped poles and a tropical zone around the equator.

The storms remained the only reason for concern.

John Koenig piloted the Eagle with Paul in the co-pilot's seat. The craft descended on final approach, skirting the upper atmosphere.

"Heat shields on," Paul flipped a switch on his side of the cockpit.

"Now we just need to find a parking space," Koenig mumbled as his eyes alternated between the small command module window and the instruments on the panel before him.

Victor's face appeared on the pilot's console monitor.

"John, that red storm is just about below us moving north by northeast. I'm measuring some big wind speeds down there. Best to avoid it."

"Agreed. Victor, have everyone strap in back there. We're making our final approach," John switched off the communications monitor and turned to his co-pilot: "Paul, we're going to go in about fifty miles south of the storm. That should give us plenty of margin for error."

"Locking in an approach."

The Eagle entered the atmosphere and descended smoothly. From his position in the pilot's seat John watched the glow of heat dance on the nose cone and then the swoosh of icy water vapor followed by silky white clouds.

"It's magnificent," Paul allowed himself a moment to enjoy the view of a beautiful sky.

Victor's face appeared again on the internal communications monitor.

"John! The storm…it's changed direction—"

Before Victor could finish his warning Koenig felt the control sticks of the Eagle yank out of his grasp. A massive force—a gust of immense power—slammed into the craft and knocked it off its controlled descent. The cockpit spun. The outside world became a blur. Koenig felt the g-force pin him into his seat.

---

Back at Main Mission Alan Carter and Sandra Benes flanked Winters, a younger man who had experience running Main Mission just once before when the mysterious and maniacal machine named Gwent terrorized the Alphans. He had handled that situation coolly, thus maintaining his position as Paul's back up.

They listened as calls for help came from Eagle One.

"We're out of control," Koenig's voice confirmed the telemetry data coming in from computer. "We're going down. Alpha! We're going to—"

The transmission turned to static.

Carter paced back and forth. Sandra stood and raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

Kano reported, "Computer confirms, Eagle One off-course and out of control."

Winters—as helpless as the rest of them—pushed the transmit button.

"Eagle One, this is Alpha, come in. Eagle One, do you read me? Respond, Eagle One.

The calls met with no response.

The Alphans could only stare at the view screen that remained fixed on the beautiful yellow and orange planet.

"Eagle One! Do you copy?"

MARTIN LANDAU

BARBARA BAIN

SPACE 1999

THIS EPISODE

Rescue Eagle rising up on alpha launch pad…Paul holding his hand up and sending a security guard flying…an Eagle spinning through the air in the midst of a great gust of wind…Tanya yelling for help from the door of an Eagle…Bergman walking through a room filled with beautiful sculptures…Carter firing a stung gun…Dr. Mathias standing in front of a vital signs monitor that is presenting strange readings…Eagle flying toward a blue waterspout amidst a storm over an ocean…rescue teams in space suits running toward a travel tube on alpha… Tanya standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean as if preparing to jump.


	2. Chapter 2

LOVE'S OTHER NAME

Inside Main Mission Winter's tried yet again to reach Commander Koenig's party.

"Eagle One, this is Alpha. Respond, please."

Carter grew impatient.

"They went down, Winters. We need to get going after them straight off."

Winters calmly opened communication to Emergency Services and, at the same time, activated the Red Alert alarm. Klaxons blared to life throughout the base.

"Search and rescue crew to standby positions. Rescue Eagle to Pad 4."

On the outskirts of Alpha a pair of spacesuit-wearing pilots with helmets in hand hurried through a crowded corridor en route to a travel tube. That tube carried them to a launch pad where a red-striped Rescue Eagle rose gently from the underground hanger to the launch pad.

Back in Main Mission Kano relayed the latest data: "Computer cannot locate the crash site. All telemetry has ceased."

"It'll be like looking for a needle in a damn haystack," Carter cracked while continuing to pace.

Winters reported, "Rescue Eagle will be ready to lift off in four minutes."

"Computer confirms," Kano read from a data slip. "The storm changed course and accelerated as soon as the Eagle entered the atmosphere."

While that revelation stunned the room, Sandra slowly rose from her work station and pointed toward the main viewer depicting the yellow and orange planet that was, mere moments ago, so full of promise.

"It is gone," she said.

"What?" Carter's voice carried more than a hint of annoyance. "What are you talking about?"

"The storm," she clarified. "The red storm, it is gone."

---

John Koenig sat straight in the pilot's seat after having been thrown forward into the console. The heavy-duty safety harness had kept him in place, a fact confirmed by the severe bruising he could feel on his shoulders.

Still, he had expected more than bruising. The way they had fallen from the sky had made him expect the worst. Then…then _something_ had happened.

He took quick stock of the control panel in front of him; a panel illuminated only by the faintest of emergency lights.

"All systems off line," he said. "An electrical charge must've shut down the main operating systems."

Koenig found and depressed the 'systems reset' button near the main power controls to the side of his seat. The lights flickered and then came on, joined in short order by the beeps and buzzes of various Eagle systems.

"We're operational. Paul, did you—"

Koenig stopped. Paul had not survived the landing as well as the Commander. Morrow sat slumped in his seat, unconscious.

Koenig quickly undid his safety straps. A voice from the console called: "Eagle One, this is Main Mission, do you copy?"

Koenig paused and pushed a button to reply to the voice transmission.

"Main Mission, this is Eagle One, we copy."

"Commander," Winters' voice carried the slightest hint of relief. "What's your status?"

"Checking on that, Alpha. Stand by."

Koenig moved to Paul and instinctively checked first for a pulse. He found it.

"Paul? Can you hear me?"

Morrow did not respond.

The twin doors of the cockpit bulkhead slid open. Helena Russell staggered a step inside the command module with one hand touching a bump on her head.

"Helena! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I," she struggled. "Yes, I think so. What's wrong with Paul?"

"And everyone else?"

"Victor and Tanya are okay. We were strapped in. A lot of our gear is a mess but John, what about Paul?"

Koenig looked to his co-pilot then to Helena again.

"You're the doctor."

Koenig brushed past Helena. She, in turn, forgot her own wound and tended to the injured man.

In the passenger compartment John found Professor Bergman and Tanya Alexander slowly—groggily—retrieving tossed instruments and supplies.

"You two all right?"

"I suppose so, yes, in a manner of speaking. Say John, what happened?"

"Victor, someone really fouled up the radar data or our navigational instruments are in need of a major overhaul. We headed right into that storm."

"Nice bit of flying, John," Bergman said as he retrieved a small package from between two rows of seats. "I thought we were going to go in nose-first."

"I wish I could take credit," the Commander admitted. "I had no control. Just before we hit some kind of updraft cushioned our fall. Instead of a crash, a hard landing."

Tanya added, "I thought when that storm showed up we were done for."

Koenig and Victor glanced at each other and, simultaneously, their eyes widened.

"John…the storm!"

Both men grew quiet and listened, their eyes finding the ceiling but really trying to see something outside the ship.

They heard nothing. Victor hurried to one of the computer consoles and pushed a button. A radar image appeared on a monitor; a clear radar image.

"It's gone! John, the storm has dissipated."

Koenig scratched his chin and pondered, "How does a storm some one-hundred miles around suddenly disappear?"

Tanya said, "I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Well I am," Koenig spoiled the mood. "Victor, double-check the data."

---

Carter refused to stop pacing until he heard the Commander's voice come over the speaker. Everyone at alpha's nerve center braced for the news.

"Alpha, this is Koenig. We're okay. A hard landing but the Eagle is operational."

Winters asked, "Injuries?"

"Nothing serious. Paul is unconscious. Dr. Russell is checking on him now."

Carter pushed his way to the transmitter. Winters—with no choice in the matter—leaned back to make room.

"Commander, I can have a medical team and another Eagle there in three hours. Just say the word."

"I'll let you know, Alan."

"Commander," Winters regained control of the communications gear, "our sensors are no longer showing the storm. It looks as if it just…faded…away after you got caught in it."

Alan Carter knew John Koenig well enough that he recognized the long pause before his reply as a sign of concern.

"Everything is calm here now. We're trying to figure it out ourselves. Have Kano and Sandra go over every ounce of sensor data."

"Sir," Winters asked the question on everyone's mind. "Does it look as good from there as it did from here?"

Again a long pause.

"We'll let you know as soon as we know. Eagle One, out."

---

Paul lay unconscious on an emergency stretcher on the floor of the passenger compartment. Helena knelt alongside him taking one more reading from her medical scanner.

"John, as far as I can tell there is nothing wrong with him. If I were to guess I'd say he passed out from the extreme g-force during the descent."

"Helena," John wagged a finger at her and then at the quiet form of his second-in-command, "that's not good enough. We have a limited amount of time to complete Phase One if we're going to execute Operation Exodus. But if one of my people is in danger—"

"He's not," she said, and then reconsidered. "At least I don't think so."

"Then we head back to Alpha," John said.

"No, wait, John," Helena looked at Paul again and sighed. The weight of her patient's health as well as the weight of hundreds of people on Alpha in search of a new home fell upon her shoulders. "If he doesn't come around in a little bit then we can make the return trip and get him to medical. But there's nothing I would be doing for him there that I'm not doing right now. We just have to wait and see if he comes around."

Koenig hung his head and considered. He had an obligation to Paul. He also had an obligation to the whole of Alpha.

"Okay then. We'll wait a little while. Victor and I will take a walk and see what we can find out."

Helena pointed out, "I have to scan plant life and soil. That's why I'm here."

"Stay near the Eagle. I don't want you more than two seconds away from Paul if his condition changes. Tanya…you remain here and start running your sensor sweeps with the onboard gear. Keep a close eye on Paul."

"Of course, Commander."

Koenig pulled his COM link from its holster. Winters' face appeared on the vid-screen.

"Winters, we're going to proceed with Phase One."

"And Morrow?"  
"He's still out, but Dr. Russell thinks he'll come around soon. If he doesn't, we'll be heading back shortly. Begin preliminary preparations for Phase Two. We'll contact you as soon as we know more."

"Yes, Commander. And good luck, Commander."

Koenig returned the COM link to his belt and led Victor to the starboard side exit of the Eagle. Victor added a bag and a portable scanner to his gear while Koenig strapped on a side arm.

"Helena, stay close to the ship," he re-emphasized and then gave the unconscious Paul another good look. "I don't care how good this planet looks, I won't play games with Paul's life."

Tanya volunteered, "I will be with him the whole time, Commander."

Koenig turned about fast and opened the sliding door. A ray of warm sun—the warmth of two suns, in fact—came in through the open hatch. A field of knee-high green grass stretched before them with a variety of flowering shrubs around a tree line where light woodlands began. The sky overhead glimmered in yellow and blue with clouds of magnificent colors flying gracefully across the horizon.

"Amazing," Helena sighed from behind the two men. "Simply…amazing."

John reminded her, "I want your attention on Paul, Helena."

She scowled at him but the Commander did not relent.

"Stay close," he repeated. "Paul is your first priority."

John led the way down the stairs away from the passenger module. Victor turned to Helena and gave her a half-hearted smile; a sign of understanding her plight. Then he followed Koenig across the field.

Helena returned inside the ship for a moment and gave Paul another visual examination.

"I don't get it," she told Tanya. "Nothing appears to be wrong with him. He must have simply passed out during the descent."

"Do not worry, Dr. Russell," Tanya assured. "Go out into the sun and collect your specimens. I have work to do in here and will keep an eye on Paul."

Helena smiled at Tanya, touched her shoulder in an expression of thanks, and retrieved her analysis kit. A moment later she exited the Eagle. Tanya sat at the computer work station and activated the Eagles' onboard scanners. The invisible beams from those scanners reached up into the sky to try and unravel the secrets of Opal 4's atmosphere.

---

"You know, John, the fact that the storm dissipated could be a very good sign."

Koenig pushed through a low-hanging branch and worked his way among the trees. They found no paths. It seemed as if they were the first feet to tread that land, other than several small mammals scurrying for cover as they moved.

"Or a very bad one."

"No, now listen. When I first saw those storms on the view screen I was afraid they were something like the big red spot on Jupiter. That storm has raged for as long as human observations of Jupiter have been made."

"The storm that never stops."

"Indeed."

The two climbed a small rocky ledge. A tiny stream trickled nearby.

"Victor, you and I both know that storms that size usually aren't found on planets with stable atmospheres. This planet appears to have a stable atmosphere. So why are there two gigantic storms here?"

"Good question."

"And I've got a better question," John stopped and turned to face Victor. "Why did one of those storms just disappear the minute we came down here? Coincidence? I don't believe in those."

"Well John," Victor appeared ready to answer the question, but something caught his eye. Something ahead, just beyond the next line of trees. He changed the tone of his voice and in slow, deliberate words, said, "It could be the answers are just in front of us."

Koenig joined Victor and they exited the forest. In the distance, mountains rose to massive heights and wore peaks colored in frosty white snow. In the shadow of those mountains a wide open space that once belonged to a city.

Pillars with ornate scriptures carved therein; walkways made from marble-like stones; a bridge from skillfully crafted wood spanning a gentle river; panels of glass etched with slender figures; pottery baskets hanging from complex lattice work that might have held colorful flowers long ago.

All magnificent. Breathtaking. And all in ruins.

Weeds and wildflowers grew in cracks in the pavement; spindly vines smothered the pillars; rotting mush filled broken baskets; dunes of dirt and dust buried the remains of fallen towers.

Nothing remained whole. Only pieces…fragments of a once great city knocked flat and left to decay.

Victor stood still and quoted Shelley, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair."

Koenig spoke in a hushed tone, "Victor…this is…incredible."

"Yes," Bergman turned off his philosophical side and focused on his scientific nature. Those who knew him best knew he tended to confuse the two. "Not good news, either."

The Commander understood.

"The storm. This place was flattened by the storms."

Victor answered not with words but with the nod of his head, at the same time raising the knuckle of his thumb to his mouth and gently tapping: a sign of deep thought.

---

The view screen at Main Mission zeroed in on the spiraling blue storm swirling across one of the planet's oceans.

"It is like a hurricane," Sandra noted. "But much prettier."

"Nothing pretty about a typhoon," Carter remarked. "We used to see some of those back home, on Earth, in my part of the world. Trust me, you don't want to get caught out in one of those things."

Kano said, "We can't expect it to be perfect. Even Earth isn't perfect."

"I'd settle for okay," Carter strolled over to one of the windows that offered a view of the moon surface with the planet Opal 4 hovering above the horizon. "What more can you ask for? A little sun, some ocean, and a place to settle down."

Kano told him, "How about two suns, for the price of one."

Carter smiled and pointed a finger at Kano.

"You've got yourself a deal."

"Settle down," Winters broke the good humor. "We have to wait for the Commander's report before we get ahead of ourselves."

"You are such a spoilsport," Sandra pouted.

"Sorry," he conceded. "But the last time I sat in this chair things got a little rough. Call me a pessimist."

In unison, Kano, Carter, and Sandra said, "Pessimist."

---

Koenig answered the tone form his COM link. It was Dr. Russell. Before she could speak he asked, "Any news on Paul?"

That caught her off guard.

"Well, no, I'll be going back to check on him in a minute. But John, I've run preliminary tests on the plants and trees around the clearing. So far, it all checks out. The soil is very fertile and I've seen signs of small animals, mainly marmots, and insect life."

He considered her report for a moment and then replied, "Continue your analysis. But I want an update on Paul in ten minutes."

"No word from Tanya so far, John."

John, a bit harshly, snapped, "Tanya isn't the medical officer."

Helena's eyes widened for a moment and a pang of guilt shot through the Commander. He knew his tendency to let his frustrations and concerns manifest in unhelpful ways.

Before she could disconnect he added, "I'm just worried about him."

That, she knew, came as close to an apology as she would ever hear from John Koenig. It served.

Helena flashed a smile on the video screen and assured, "I'll check on him in a moment and contact you."

The link ended. John looked around and spied Victor leaning over a slab of black rock that might have been a kind of granite.

"Well Victor?"

Professor Bergman surveyed the landscape again, as he had for several minutes although this time he used merely his eyes and not his portable scanner. First he told John the obvious.

"This was once a great city here. It was knocked flat. Most likely by one or both of those storms. But John, it must have been marvelous."

"That doesn't do me any good, Victor. We can't live here under the constant threat of something that powerful."

"You're missing the bigger picture," he scratched the side of his head—where a little of the hair he had left remained—and pointed out, "Whoever built this city had the time to make it. All this architecture and buildings did not spring up over night."

Koenig squinted his eyes and followed along: "So the storms weren't always raging on this planet. Whoever was here built these cities. Then the storms came along."

"Yes, indeed. Now here's something interesting to think about. Just on first glance I see the remains of some fairly complex building designs. Nothing huge, like skyscrapers, but complex nonetheless and all built with simple materials; no signs of composite metals or plastics; mainly stone and wood. To do this, the people who lived here must have had an advanced gasp of mathematics and engineering."

"Okay, so they were smart."

"Not just smart, John, but advanced. And a lot like us, I dare say."

To prove his point, Victor stooped and grabbed the remains of something that resembled stained glass. While half the image was missing, what remained depicted a bipedal, humanoid form in a kind of dance.

"Makes sense, of course," Bergman went on. "Similar gravity means similar height. Based on their craftsmanship I expect opposable thumbs and the doorways would accommodate a body structure such as ours. Of course in our journeys we have met many different kinds of sentient life, but the humanoid design appears to be the most common form, most likely for very practical reasons."

"Okay, so they were a lot like us. At least in appearance."

"I have seen nothing that resembles industry, but there are plots of land on the outskirts of town that might have been farms. If I were to venture a guess—only a guess at this point, mind you—I would say we are looking at an agrarian society. I see no signs of defensive structures or walls, so I will assume they were at peace with whomever their neighbors might have been. What I do see, however, is a great deal of emphasis on art and, well, beauty."

Koenig mused, "Like this planetary system itself. Full of color and design."

"Yes, how interesting is that?"

"Victor, based on what we can see here it's almost as if aesthetics were a critical part of their planning."

Victor strolled among the overturned walls and collapsed buildings where weeds and dunes of dirt now competed for what had been civilized land.

"These people indulged in the arts, John, and with great passion. I have seen bas-reliefs of lovers and fading paintings of the most romantic themes," he bent over and retrieved a slab of wood that offered an engraved image of what had to be a young man attempting to woo a woman. "Perhaps they evolved not along technological trees as we have, but with an emphasis on art, music, and poetry. I imagine that, to us, this type of a civilization might be nearly nirvana."

"That might be true, Victor. But it also means they were very much like us. Same themes and ideas; love, romance, passion. Maybe they took it to an extreme."

Victor nodded in agreement.

Koenig added, "But their art didn't save them when the storms came, did it?"

Victor answered by dropping the slab of wood. It landed with a dull thud and cast a puff of brown dirt into the air.

---

Tanya eyed the readouts on the Eagle's computer banks as they clattered and beeped away inside the passenger module. The side door that led to Opal 4 remained wide open allowing streaks of those marvelous twin suns to pour inside. She could hear Dr. Russell's footsteps as she made her way among the plants and other flora of the new world.

"Amazing," Tanya spoke to herself. "This atmosphere is free of all pollutants. No trace of artificial elements."

Her mind drifted to thoughts of a new world. A new life. Families.

On impulse, her eyes followed her mind's dreams and drifted from the computer monitors to the unconscious body of Paul Morrow, asleep on the stretcher. Except now his eyes had opened wide.

"Paul!" Tanya sprung from her chair and knelt next to him. "Can you hear me, Paul?"

He did not respond. Not to her. Not at first. Instead, his eyes blinked rapidly and surveyed the ceiling and walls of the passenger module, as if finding his bearings.

"We were so worried. I'll get Dr. Russell in here."

His hand grabbed her wrist. Hard. Her joy turned immediately to fear as she saw the expression of a stranger on Paul's face. His eyes narrow and sharp; his face red as a passion or anger radiated from his person as if his soul burned.

"I _will_ have her. Nothing will stop me this time," he growled.

Despite his strength—a strength even greater than a man should have—Tanya managed to twist free from his grasp.

Outside, Dr. Russell walked toward the open starboard door of Eagle One hoping to get a status report on Paul Morrow before John called in again. She knew a lot of things played on the Commander's mind, ranging from the storm to Paul's injury. When John was in such a state he only grew more agitated when answers were not forthcoming and he spared no one the whip, not even her.

As she approached the ship she heard a commotion.

Suddenly Tanya stood at the door, her eyes wide open and her mouth gaping in what could only be fear.

"Help me! Dr. Russell..!"

She saw Paul grab her from behind, cutting off her escape, and throw her back into the compartment. The side door then slid shut and closed with an ominous _thump._

Helena raised her COM link and tried to open the door, to no avail.

Her mind struggled to grasp the situation. Paul was awake, this was obvious. It was also obvious that he had scared Tanya and forcibly kept her from leaving the Eagle. That made no sense. It did not fit with his character.

The whine of Eagle engines spooling to life broke through her confusion.

"John," she activated her COM link. "We have an emergency here. Get back here right now, John. Right _now."_

She could not wait for his reply. The threat of take off forced her away from the Eagle toward the rim of tress surrounding the clearing. She reached it just as the thrusters fired, spewing dirt and rock into the air from beneath the undercarriage of the craft. The ship eased into the sky and swung about.

John—faster and younger than Victor—arrived at the clearing first. He stood with Helena and watched their Eagle fly off to the east.


	3. Chapter 3

Eagle One disappeared over the horizon.

Koenig shouted into his COM Link: "Paul! This is Koenig. Return to the landing site. That's an order!"

Victor bent over. His breath came in unhealthy heaves. Helena tore her wide, bewildered eyes from the sky and gave her attention to the Professor.

"Your mechanical heart?"

He tried to speak but instead communicated with a wave of his hand, choosing to save his breath. Helena remained concerned even though she knew Bergman's artificial heart would soon equalize. Still, dealing with a problem she understood offered some relief from the chaos and befuddlement of the past few minutes.

Commander Koenig ceased trying to reach the Eagle and transmitted to Moon base.

"Winters. This is Koenig. Tell Carter to take control of Eagle One with the automatic navigation and flight systems on Alpha."

"Commander?"

"Do it! Now!"

"Yessir."

Back on Alpha, Carter—standing over Winters' shoulder—heard the order. He hurried to the flight control panel and attempted to access Eagle One's navigation system through the base's computer: standard procedure for most routine flights.

"Trying to link up now," Carter went to work.

Kano sat at the computer desk in the middle of the ring of stations at the heart of Main Mission. A soft electronic hum played as the console and his chair swiveled around from facing the view screen to facing the desks where Winters and Carter worked.

"Computer is receiving Eagle One's telemetry data. You should be able to interface with onboard systems."

Carter pressed a button that broadcast a quick 'ping' across the void of space to the ship flying through the air of Opal 4. He waited for a response. None came. He tried again. And again. Nothing.

Koenig's voice echoed in the room; his frustration carried all the way from the planet surface and through the monitor on Winters' desk: "Well?"

Carter answered, "Commander, it's no good. I'm not getting a connection."

Sandra confirmed, "We are receiving information from Eagle One including transponder data."

"Well that does it, Commander," Alan put an end to Koenig's first hope, "The automatic systems must be switched off. Eagle One is on manual control."

"Sir, are you—"

Koenig cut Winters off: "Eagle One has been hijacked. From what we can tell…well….something is wrong with Paul."

Sandra gasped.

"Paul?" Carter's face corkscrewed at the notion. "You mean Paul has taken off in the ship without your say-so?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And he's got Tanya onboard too. See if you can raise them, but he's not responding to my transmissions."

Winters nodded to Sandra who immediately took up the task: "This is Moon base Alpha calling Eagle One. Come in Eagle One."

The sound of hurried footsteps tapped and clicked in the hallway outside Main Mission. Dr. Mathias—wearing the standard Alpha uniform with a white sleeve indicating 'Medical' services department—hurried in. Without saying a word he accessed a set of small monitors situated in the panels beneath the main viewing screen. Two sprung to life immediately, both displaying sets of lines and bouncing dots.

"Commander, stand by," Winters dared. "What is it, Doctor?"

Mathias turned his attention from the monitors and answered, "I thought the problem was in my equipment down in Medical Center, but the systems here are doing the same thing."

Carter—impatient with any mystery—shot, "Doing what, Doc?"

"These monitors reflect the vital signs of crewmen onboard Eagle One. The automatic medical systems have identified this one as Tanya Alexander," he pointed to a monitor on which one of the several lines presented made quick peaks and valleys while a small dot hurried across the screen in fast hops accompanied by frantic beeps. "Her heart rate and respiration are elevated, indicating substantial stress. But look, her brain pattern is functioning normally," he tapped one of the lower lines that zigzagged across the screen in gentle waves.

Everyone in the room gave their attention to the other monitor.

Dr. Mathias explained, "Morrow's heart rate and respiration are fine. Perfect, even. But his brain activity…"

The line that zigzagged across the screen in gentle waves on Tanya's monitor hurried in tsunami-like blasts on Morrow's display.

"What…what does it mean, Dr. Mathias?" Sandra swooned, as if in danger of fainting. Alan hurried over and steadied her with a firm hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know."

Winters returned his attention to Koenig.

"Commander—"

"I heard."

Sandra focused on the communications gear at her station.

"Alpha Moon base to Eagle One. Paul, answer, please. This is Sandra."

Koenig ordered, "Alan. Get down here as fast as you can. Follow my COM link signal."

"Right away, Commander," Carter hurried toward one of the two exits flanking and below the Main view screen. Koenig's next words gave him pause: "And Alan…bring a security team."

Sandra stopped in mid-transmission and closed her eyes, suppressing a surge of emotion.

Carter did not speak, he merely nodded and exited room.

Winters punched several keys on his console, sending the appropriate orders to the flight section of Alpha. In response, a massive magnetic grapple hoisted an Eagle ship from the underground hanger and carried it to an orange, cross-shaped elevator. Moments later the transport raised to the surface of the moon where a gantry way extended from the staging area of launch pad one.

---

Eagle One flew over the open landscape of Opal 4. Below the ship past golden fields, dark forests, and finally wide, sandy beaches between jagged cliffs. Geysers of ocean spray reached into the air as lines of ocean surf battered the shore line.

The scenes of peace below contrasted sharply with the chaotic clouds ahead twisting in swirls of black and gray above a turbulent sea. White caps rolled and crashed in a symphony of angry energy unleashed.

And Eagle One flew toward the center of it all.

Paul sat at the pilot's controls, stone-faced and staring forward. Tanya cowered in the co-pilot's chair, alternating her attention from the view ahead, to the controls on her side of the ship, and to the man she thought she knew.

"Paul, please," she trembled. "What is it you are doing? Please, talk to me."

As he had since throwing her into place, Paul did not answer.

A warning light blinked on the sensor array cautioning of dangerous cross winds. Another series of beeps told of stabilizer thrusters pushed to their limit. The entire ship rocked side to side. Tanya yelped.

She did no have pilot certification, but she did understand many of the readouts and signals springing to life throughout the command module.

"We must return to the commander, Paul. Whatever is wrong with you—"

He finally did speak, but in such a firm and low voice that she could not be sure he spoke to her, or to himself.

"I will have her this time."

"Paul…who?" She tried a different tact. "It's me, Tanya. Talk to me, Paul."

Something beyond the small cockpit window caught her attention. She glanced forward. Her eyes widened. A gasp slipped from her lungs and her heart raced in heavy thumps.

A massive water spout danced across the horizon. The pure ocean water gave it a beautiful blue color. At its top the spinning funnel clashed with the clouds where shimmering flashes of white light electrified the atmosphere. At its bottom the ocean boiled furiously, speaking of immense power.

Paul's hands worked the craft's controls and pointed the nose of the machine directly for this heart of the storm.

"No…Paul…we must go back! Please!"

In response, Morrow worked more power from the throttle. The Eagle bucked side to side. The wind howled. The nose cone dipped as if the increase in speed pushed it down.

A flash of lightning tickled the superstructure of the ship. The lights blinked but control remained.

Tanya screamed.

The waterspout turned like a sultry dancer pivoting at the hips to sway closer to her partner.

"Come to me…" Paul whispered. "Come to me, my love."

"No! No, Paul! You're going to get us killed!"

He did not hear her.

"I am here…come to me."

The windstorm filled the forward view.

Tanya screamed again, loud and long like the storm itself. But this time she screamed not because of the danger approaching. This time she screamed because she could feel something…or someone…reaching for her mind. Penetrating it. Pushing her aside.

"COME TO ME! MY LOVE! _COME TO ME!"_

---

Koenig, Bergman, and Dr. Russell drifted about the ruins of the city, waiting for

Carter's flight to arrive. Helena said, for the fourth time, "It's beautiful."

"Beautiful, Helena? Is it? This city is destroyed."

Again John's agitation surfaced in the form a sharp reply to a person who rarely felt the brunt of his often bullish personality. As usual, John Koenig found he could not cow Helena, and her reaction to his sharp tone came across silky smooth: "Would you feel better if it had been an ugly city?"

Her reply came across as preposterous. As such, it served notice to the Commander that she thought his attitude to be just as preposterous.

He paused, ran a hand over his neck, and admitted, "I'm not helping things, am I?"

She offered a hint of smile.

"We have a long wait. I prescribe a healthy dose of dealing only with what we can deal with right now, and leaving the rest for after Alan Carter picks us up."

"Hmmm, yes," Victor stood nearby studying a toppled archway that had once led to grand building. "Sound advice from the Doctor."

"Okay then, let's deal with what we can deal with. What would cause Paul Morrow to disobey an order?"

Helena remembered, "I can't think of a thing. It's not in his nature. The last time I remember him doing anything like that was when he had a picnic on the moon's surface and consumed those hallucinogenic fungi."

That pulled a smiled form Koenig's lips, no matter how hard he tried to fight it. He knew she referred to the time an alien culture had created—albeit briefly—a breathable atmosphere on the traveling moon.

"Is it possible he suffered a more substantial injury in the hard landing than you detected?"

She answered, "I don't think so. At least, I don't see how."

"Wait a moment," Victor pulled his curiosity from the fallen doorway and joined the conversation although with Victor it always felt as if he occupied his mind with at least two lines of thought at any given moment, including during the heat of conversation. "I'm not so sure Paul _is_ disobeying an order."

"What? Victor, my COM link functioning correctly. He had to have known—"

"That's not what he means," Helena said. "Is it, Victor?"

Bergman scratched the side of his head.

"No. Not at all. You see, we've had experience with this type of thing before. Remember Anton Zoref?"

Koenig's eyes moved side to side as he remembered the engineering technician Anton Zoref, what had happened to him, and how it had nearly destroyed Alpha.

"Yes…yes," he pointed at Victor. "Are you telling me that an alien life force has taken control of Paul Morrow?"

Helena said, "What a moment. Anton Zoref became possessed by some alien life force. He drained energy from our equipment…and our people."

"Yes, he did," Bergman recalled. He made a fist and bobbed it up and down to accentuate his words: "A being of a composition unknown to us inhabited Anton's body and used him to channel energy to itself. But that's not the only case. Remember Ted Clifford? Or even Dr. Russell here, herself."

"The Triton probe," Koenig spoke softly. "They implanted Ted with a device that linked him to our computers, and then to their vessel, to transmit data."

Helena raised a hand to the back of her head where a Triton device had once worked its vile business. "I remember."

John recalled that unpleasant encounter and his heart raced. He had nearly lost Helena to the Tritons. In an almost involuntary action, he stepped to Helena and placed a concerned hand on her shoulder.

She squeezed it as if to say 'I'm all right,' but such a statement would not be entirely truthful. The invasion of an alien probe into her mind—a probe that had controlled her actions—remained an experience that she relived often in nightmares.

"So we have a precedent here, John," Victor continued.

"Okay, Victor, that would explain why Paul refused my orders. But it doesn't explain who or what might be controlling him."

A soft breeze blew across the remains of the city. Blades of grass and weeds growing between the blocks and beams of a once-beautiful civilization swayed in obedience to the wind. The Alphans listened.

"A ghost town," Helena said softly. "Maybe…well…maybe this place isn't as dead as it appears."

"Ah, yes," Bergman pounced as if he had been waiting for that suggestion. "A reasonable hypothesis. We have had our experiences with disembodied spirits as well."

John glanced around at the quiet ruins as if hoping to catch a glimpse of a ghost. However, he quickly tossed aside the notion.

"No Victor, that doesn't add up. This was a big city. Had to have been. There were five of us in the landing party. Why only one ghost?"

"Agreed," Bergman nodded like a teacher allowing his students to work out a math problem to the extent of even indulging a wrong direction with the hope that the initial dead end would eventually help lead to the answer. "No, I think we're dealing with something different than a ghost story."

Commander Koenig snapped his fingers.

"The storm," he stepped forward and pointed at Bergman. "It came for us when we were descending. Just when we thought we were going to crash, something softened the blow. And when we were down the storm itself disappeared."

"A storm?" Helena sounded unconvinced. "A storm is a part of the environment. A natural phenomena, not a spirit or an alien."

"Helena, a storm is energy," John countered and Victor nodded in approval. "That's all it really is. _Energy."_

"I find it hard to believe."

Victor assured her, "As I am fond of saying, since the day our moon left the Earth's orbit we've learned a lot of things. But most of all, we've learned that we have a lot to learn."

The three Alphans stood amidst the ruins and waited.

---

Eagle Two settled into a high and very temporary orbit around the colorful sphere of Opal 4. In the distance the twin stars at the heart of the system pulsated red and blue.

"Eagle Two to Alpha, come in Alpha," Carter transmitted. "I've got a clear lead on the Commander's signal. What's your status back there?"

His transmission carried across the space between the planet and the moon; space that would soon reach its closet point before the traveling ball of rock the Alphans called home would begin moving off; moving along their uncontrolled path through the galaxy.

Winters sat at his console in Main Mission and answered the pilot.

"Eagle Two this is Winters. We've got you on our scanners. What's your status?"

"Coming around on the dayside of the planet. I'll begin my final descent in two minutes."

Kano's computer beeped and chattered away as a message printed. He read loud enough for this words to transmit to Alan: "Computer confirms your position. The Commander is three hundred meters north of the original landing zone."

Carter asked, "Any word from Paul and Eagle One?"

"Nothing," Winters conceded. "But we're still receiving their transponder. Tell the Commander that you should have no trouble tacking them down."

"Look!" Sandra pointed to the main view screen that displayed Opal 4 slowly revolving. "The second storm…it is also gone."

Everyone in Main Mission understood what she saw. The spinning blue storm had done what the red storm had done a few hours before: disappeared. The image of sparkling blue ocean waters filled most of the monitor.

"Computer cannot account for this."

Winters agreed with Kano: "I know how computer feels."

---

Eagle Two's rockets fired and kicked debris from the center of the destroyed city. The ship's landing struts rocked gently as they touched ground atop stone, wood, and mounds of dirt. As the jets died off, John Koenig led Helena and Victor to their ride. As they approached the side door slid open.

Carter welcomed them, flanked by security guards Tony Allan and Pierce Quinton.

The pilot offered a snide grin and asked, "Did someone call for a taxi?"

Koenig hid any amusement and stormed inside telling Carter to, "Get us airborne."

The Commander joined Carter in the cockpit while the rest strapped down. The ship blasted away from the flattened city, pivoted around, and followed Eagle One's electronic trail to the east. The pair of suns hung high in the sky.

"What's going on down here, Commander?"

"Alan, when I know I'll tell you. We need to track down Paul and Tanya. That's the only way we'll have any answers."

"Say, was that a city I saw back there?"  
"What's left of one, yes."

"So someone lives here?"  
Koenig told him, "Not any more."

Carter smiled again.

"Then there's a vacancy? Because I'll tell you, Commander, this place looks a fair shade of pretty from up here."

Koenig snarled, "Well things aren't always as simple as they might look."

---

The second Eagle spaceship flew over the quiet lands of Opal 4. In the passenger compartment, Victor and Helena accessed the banks of monitoring equipment to better understand the planet. While Eagle Two lacked the specialized reconnaissance and analysis gear of Eagle One, the two tasted enough information to whet their appetites for more.

"Nearly ideal," Helena scanned the readouts on a monitor. "The air quality is excellent. I'm not sure what else to say."

"Yes, well, I hate to spoil the celebration," Victor pointed at a view screen depicting a hillside forest knocked flat. "But everything is not quite as tranquil down here as I might hope."

"The storms?"

"The storms," Victor agreed. "Whatever they are, they're dangerous. And destructive."

"Storms on Earth were dangerous and destructive too, but man built a civilization nonetheless."

"Perhaps so. But the storms here are very violent and…" he considered his words carefully in light of the situation. "…and far more _unpredictable."_

In the command module Alan Carter steered the transport out to sea. The communications console beeped and Koenig answered, "What?"

The face of Winters filled a monitor on the main console.

"Commander, the second storm has dissipated. No sign of what happened."

Koenig chewed on that for two long seconds and then replied, "Just keep us on course for intercept."

"Yes, Commander. Computer is continuing to channel tracking information to your onboard systems. Eagle One is stationary, about five minutes away at your current speed and course."

Koenig switched off the communicator. As the mystery deepened his focus increased. He worried about Paul and Tanya. He worried about Opal 4 and what it could mean to his people.

The five minutes passed painfully slow with only the steady hum of the Eagle engines for company. Carter kept his attention forward as the craft flew atop calm, blue waters.

"Looky here, Commander. I think we found where Eagle One went down."

Koenig felt greatly relieved when he spied the cluster of islands. He had worried that Paul's ship had crashed into the ocean and they would find a transponder transmitting from floating or submerged debris.

The island stood out from the surrounding water in dramatic fashion. It appeared crescent-shaped. The southeast stretch of island started at a jagged shoreline and sloped up to the northwest in a hundred meters of steep green field surrounded by patches of shrubs. The upper half of the island appeared nearly melodramatic as it rose to a rocky precipice on which sat the remains of an artificial structure of stone colonnades supporting a rotunda. The open-air construction made Koenig think of the ruins of ancient Greece built to overlook the Mediterranean.

From the air he spied small stairs leading up and away to an isolated plateau just to the east of the dome. There he saw Eagle One, parked perfectly on a stretch of flat stone.

Carter must have seen the same thing. He said, "Hell of a job parking there."

"No room for us, though. Put us down along the shore and we'll hike it uphill."

Carter responded not with words, but actions. He manipulated Eagle One to the southeast. The entire ship tilted as it descended. The expert pilot found a spot among the shrubs and rocks just large enough to accommodate the ship which came to rest there at a slight angle with the surf of the ocean crashing into rocks just twenty meters off the starboard side.

Carter powered down the ship. In one fluid motion, Koenig slid his chair away from the co-pilot's console and unbuckled at the same time. A moment later Carter followed him out of the Command module, through the twin sets of bulkheads, and into the passenger compartment where the others waited.

Before he addressed them, Koenig contacted Alpha with his COM link.

"Winters, we've caught up with Eagle One. It's intact, but no sign yet of Paul or Tanya."

"Understood, Commander."

"We'll update you as soon as we can."

_Click._

He turned his attention to the landing party.

'"We don't know what we're up against. Keep your eyes open."

"John," Helena stopped the Commander as he turned for the exit door. "Whatever is happening, we know Paul Morrow isn't the type to disobey orders or steal an Eagle."

"What's your point, Helena?"

"Be careful. Don't hurt him."

Koenig acknowledged her words with a nod of his head and opened the side door. The Commander left first with the security team and Alan Carter to his flanks. Victor grasped Helena's arm before they joined the others.

"I wonder if we'll even have the chance to hurt Paul."

That unnerved Helena. Victor had a way of doing that sometimes. She did not know if it was on purpose or just a by-product of his analytical mind. Bergman, after all, enjoyed a flair for the dramatic and the philosophical, much more so than the typical space-based scientist. Perhaps that's what made him the perfect fit at Alpha, particularly since the moon left orbit and began facing all manner of wonders…and horrors.

In any case, the group walked up the hillside toward the rotunda.

"Very rocky," Victor noted the outcroppings and slabs of red rock framing the grassy path to either side. "I would not be surprised to find some natural caves here."

For her part, Helena took note of the clear sky overhead and the soft, salt-scented breeze blowing across the scene. The entire place felt incredibly romantic and even awe-inspiring; no doubt a thousand love stories had wrote of such environments in the past.

She would have said as much to John, but she could tell by the expression of grim determination on his face that he would not appreciate such observations, at least not until Paul and Tanya were safe.

The rotunda offered shade from the twin suns and protection from any rain that might come, but the wind blew through the columns unabated. The northern half of the dome was actually higher than the southern half. A great wall of rock cut from the mountainside offered support to the pillars on that north side while the southern pillars dug into the last stretch of grass before pure stone took control of the mountaintop.

The landing party entered the shaded space beneath the rotunda from the south. Victor's attention first shot to an opening in an Earthen wall to the southeast. He thought he saw a flight of stairs leading down into darkness there. A cave, just as he had predicted.

His attention, however quickly shifted.

The person of Paul Morrow stood straight and still to the northwest, like a statue gazing at the waters stretching toward the horizon.

Koenig held a hand aloft to halt his party.

"Paul," he called.

No response.

"Paul Morrow! This is your Commanding officer. Answer me."

Morrow turned slowly. As he did, they saw his eyes wide open and still; trance-like.

He spoke in a steady voice in a tone that hinted at anger or frustration simmering just below the surface.

"I am the storm."

Commander Koenig stared at Morrow, not sure how to respond. Helena was not as stymied.

"Paul, where is Tanya?"

Movement from the landing party's right—the northeast section of the dome—caught their eye. Heads swerved around.

Tanya Alexander slowly descended the short flight of stone stairs that led up and out of the dome toward the plateau where Eagle One rested.

Helena asked, "Tanya…are you all right?"

She answered Dr. Russell in a stoic voice.

"I am the storm."


	4. Chapter 4

"I am the storm," the answer repeated in John Koenig's mind. He did not know what it meant. He only knew that the words came from the lips of both Paul Morrow and Tanya Alexander but they were not _their _words. 

Morrow stood still after speaking and gazed stoically toward the rotunda above; Tanya turned around and ascended to the top of the stairs, choosing a view of the ocean over a view of the strangers. Like Paul, she grew very still.

"John…" Helena whispered but did not have anything more to say.

Koenig glanced at security officers Allan and Quinton.

"Take him into custody."

The two men crossed the space between Koenig's party and the body of Paul Morrow. The latter did not move…did not even appear to notice them…until the guards reached for his arms.

Morrow—still maintaining a blank expression on his face--raised one open hand to chest level.

He did not directly touch either man, but the security guards flew backwards as if shoved by a tremendous, invisible force. A burning smell—like an electrical fire—swept through the air. Allan and Quinton rolled to a stop alongside Alan Carter, shaken and groggy.

Carter did not hesitate. He stooped and pulled Quinton's laser from his holster and fired a stun ray directly at Paul Morrow. Streaks of blue shot out from the small weapon with the aim of rattling the target's nervous system enough to temporarily shut down. Instead, the blast of energy stopped in front of Morrow and collapsed into a shimmering blue sphere.

Paul Morrow—still holding his hand in front of his chest—appeared to shove the energy ball, sending it back in the direction whence it came. The laser energy hit the ground at Carter's feet, spewing rock and dirt. Like the security guards before him, the pilot flew backwards, head over feet and rolled out from the shade of the rotunda and on to the grassy slope. Helena hurried to him.

Guards Quinton and Allan stumbled to their feet, squared their shoulders, and prepared to charge, undeterred by the first fall. They were, after all, Commander Koenig's attack dogs; loyal and determined.

Bergman had watched the exchange with detached fascination, but the sight of the guards preparing to try again forced him to act. He stepped forward and grabbed the Commander's arm.

"John," Victor urged in a low voice. "Call them off."

Koenig turned to Victor and saw his friend returning that stare with his eyes squinting in an expression of both nervousness and concern.

"Wait," Koenig ordered. The security officers stopped their advance and returned to the rear of the landing party.

Helena helped Carter to his feet. Koenig turned about and looked to Alan. Carter nodded in a signal that meant he had not suffered any major damage, although the way he massaged his neck suggested a head ache taking root.

Morrow lowered his hand and turned his back to the Alphans to admire the ocean view.

---

Sandra could not take it any more. She paced between the windows looking out on the desolate landscape of the moon to the her work station in Main Mission. Other operators came and went as the routine business of running moon base continued.

Winters watched her move.

"You're going to a wear a hole in the floor."

She considered for a moment.

"Well then, at least I am doing something."

"I know," Winters agreed. "But there is nothing to do but wait."

Everyone in the room—at least those who knew Sandra Bennes—knew that because it was Paul Morrow in trouble her nerves worked over time. She had already lost too many people on Alpha who had been close to her. She did not want to loose Paul, too.

"Computer is keeping busy," Kano added. 

Winters replied, "Oh? What's computer up to?"

"We have collected a great deal of data on the planet."

Sandra and Winters both glanced to the main view screen where the beautiful yellow and orange atmosphere of Opal 4 beckoned.

Kano went on, "The data comes from our sensors here as well as the equipment on board Eagles One and Two. Very detailed."

"Yeah? So?" Winters pushed for a point.

"So computer is running an extensive analysis of the data to provide a final answer as to Opal 4's habitability."

Sandra: "I thought computer already determined it was ideal for human life."

"Well, yes," Kano answered. "But that was based on preliminary scans that weighted the planet's position in relation to the binary suns most of all."

Winters: "And this time?"

"This time we have soil samples, atmospheric readings, wind currents, magnetic field and ozone information. Computer will be able to discern the seasonal cycles, tides, and food growth potential. A complete make up."

"That is very interesting," Sandra's words did not match the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. "What does computer say?"

Kano bowed his head slightly and admitted, "It will take some time for computer to finish the analysis."

"I see," Sandra sighed. "Like you said, Winters, there is nothing to do but wait. Even for computer."

"I suppose we should be used to it by now," Winters tried to lighten the tone. "Months traveling empty space between planets, then hours to survey a planet, waiting for data to come in, waiting to make the trip to and from the planets, and then waiting again for the Commander to make his decisions."

"That is the story of life on Alpha," Sandra resigned herself to her seat once again. "Waiting."

---

"John," Victor explained his interference. As he spoke he clenched and unclenched a fist to accentuate his words, "if they really are a manifestation of those storms…then they have _incredible_ power."

Helena overheard. She left Alan Carter's side—he was groggy, but okay—and formed a tight circle with John and the Professor. While they conversed Carter and the security guards warily watched the form of Paul Morrow. He—or it—or whatever—showed no other interest in the Alphans.

"Victor, what are you saying?" Helena's eyes widened at his incredulous suggestion. "Storms are natural phenomena…forces of nature…not intelligent beings."

"Yes," Victor nodded and calmed, apparently thrilled at the thought of exploring his theory. He spoke in a tone that conjured images of tweed-jacket-wearing university professors holding pipes and diving into philosophical studies with students. "Storms are forces of nature. At least to the best of our experience. But what is a storm, really?"

Koenig tilted his head, caught Victor's meaning, and whispered, "Energy."

Bergman nodded. Helena alternated her attention between the two men and then asked, "Energy? What do you mean. Whatever has happened to Paul…he spoke to us. He was conscious of the guards. There is sentience there."

"Helena," John led the way. "Even on Earth hurricanes and tornadoes are masses of energy in the form of air propelled and channeled by weather fronts and atmospheric conditions."

Bergman continued, "Indeed. But John, I think we're dealing with more than simple energy here. We were talking before about Anton Zoref…"

Koenig scratched his chin recalling the time when an alien life force had taken control of an Alphan and used him to tap the energy resources of the moon base, as well as the biological energy human personnel, resulting in several deaths including Zoref's.

Helena gasped, "Anton Zoref? What does he have to do with any of this?"

Koenig summarized, "Some alien force took possession of Anton, and started stealing energy from Alpha."

"Yes, and we've always thought that whatever entity was responsible, it was an entity comprised of energy."

"Okay, look," Helena held her hand up. "I'm wiling to accept the idea that Paul Morrow and Tanya might be under the control of an alien force. But I find it hard to believe that such a force would or could be pure energy. Besides, it is equally as possible that we're dealing with something entirely different. We should not jump to conclusions."

"Helena, you saw what he did to the guards. Paul Morrow can't do that, not without a stun gun," Koenig pointed out. "There's something more going on here."

Bergman nodded his head and massaged his chin. "John, there might be one way to find out exactly what is going on."

"What's that, Victor?"

"Well…you could ask them," and he nodded in the direction of Paul.

That gave the Commander pause. He turned and eyed Morrow. Further away, Tanya hovered at the top of the flight of stairs that led to the scenic outcropping. 

"Okay then, why not," Koenig agreed.

He strolled away from the conversation and toward Morrow. Carter and the guards instinctively took a step forward in support but Helena waved them off before joining the Commander herself. 

Bergman had other ideas. He left the gathering with the intention of exploring the entrance on the far side of the rotunda, the one in the hillside where a staircase led to a cave of some kind.

Meanwhile, Koenig crossed beneath the ancient rotunda and approached whatever being inhabited the body of his second-in-command. That being must have heard the footsteps. He turned around to face Koenig, displaying no emotion on his face.

For his part, the Commander held his hands aloft in a non-threatening demeanor and stopped five feet from Morrow.

"My name is John Koenig. Who are you? What is your name?"

Tanya—or whatever controlled her—observed the interaction and descended the stairs, gliding slowly across the chamber and joining the group.

Morrow's lips moved with an answer: "Name? I have no name. Only a purpose."

"A purpose?" Helena asked. "What purpose?"

"It was not always like this," the entity said, ignoring the directness of Helena's question. "Existence meant something different before."

His eyes gazed skyward, not at the ceiling above but at something far more distant.

Tanya said, "We existed to paint the sky. It was our purpose."

"Paint the sky?" the reference puzzled Koenig.

Helena, however, found the answer.

"John…this system. Remember how we found it so beautiful? The twin stars…the comets…the clouds…"

"Yes," Paul provided the answer in a voice that bordered on melodramatic; like an actor performing for the first time on stage. "They came from our work. It was our purpose. To fill the heavens with color, and light, and beauty."

"This planet was to be surrounded by art," Tanya's voice agreed. "We were the artists; taking the raw materials of the galaxy and giving them life. We molded the stars from one into two. We gathered the solar wind and made it sparkle. The ones who lived here…they must look to the heavens and see a masterpiece so beautiful they would weep."

"I don't understand," Helena turned to Tanya and engaged her in the conversation, not only in a quest for answers but with the hope of forming a bridge with the entity inhabiting that body. If she could build a relationship she might be able to free Tanya. "Who…what exactly are you?"

Tanya's reply ignored most of Helena's question, as if it had never been spoke. Still, she did reply: "We existed for one reason only: to sculpt this solar system into a work of art."

Koenig grew somewhat impatient. Such vague references only created more mystery and that, in turn, agitated him.

"How is that possible? That would take incredible power. Exactly who are you? Tell me!"

He might has well have asked his question to the air. Either Paul and Tanya did not hear or chose to ignore his words.

Paul said, "We worked for millions of what you would call…'years'. When the work was done we came here, to see if our efforts influenced ones who lived on this planet, as was our design. And then we found…we found…" the entity stumble as if struggling to recall either a fading or difficult memory.

Tanya finished for him: "We found love."

"Yes," Paul agreed and that melodrama crept into his voice again, "We are in love."

Koenig grew red faced and flexed his fingers as if looking for something to grasp. Helena saw this warning sign and moved in.

"John," she touched his shoulder.

Before she could say anymore, Victor's excited voice called from across the open-air chamber: "John!" He summoned them with the wave of his arm. "You have to see this."

Koenig eyed Morrow once more. He still wore a surprisingly stoic facial expression for an entity supposedly expressing 'love'. Tanya, too, offered no hint of emotion in her body language.

John grunted and hurriedly walked toward Victor. Helena followed, but not until flashing a friendly, unsure smile at Tanya; a smile that conveyed compassion, concern, and familiarity all at once. For a split second—just a flash—Helena thought she saw a response in those eyes; a response not from the human flesh but from the entity within. Perhaps the connection of one woman to another. 

Koenig—with Helena a step behind--approached Bergman.

"John, this is fantastic."

Koenig first spoke to Alan Carter and the security detail: "Alan, watch them, don't make a move no matter what they do; just watch."

Carter nodded. The security guards remained on his flanks at the rim of the shadow cast by the rotunda. 

Koenig glanced back at Morrow and Tanya. The pair drifted apart again, Morrow to the closest view, Tanya up the stairs. They moved slowly, almost trance like. John could not decide if they looked calm or unsure, as if not knowing what to do next.

"C'mon, they're not going anywhere," Bergman said with a light tone; perhaps a tone spiced with excitement because he had figured something out.

Koenig nodded. The Professor led the trio into the cave opening and down a flight of stairs finely carved from natural rock. Their shoes clicked on the surface and those clicks echoed forward. They did not carry flashlights or torches yet they could still see glistening jewels in the rock walls and the perfectly smooth surfaces of the staircase. Helena ran her hand across one wall, enthralled by its smooth feel yet rough look; as if every stone had been polished.

As they descended the staircase, Helena and John recounted to Victor their conversation with the entities inhabiting Paul and Tanya's bodies. When they completed the summary, Victor nodded and mumbled, "That would make sense, yes."

The stair case ceased its descent and opened to a chamber some fifty meters wide and nearly twice that measure in length. The floors and walls were white and black marble, the ceiling made of rock and supported by two rows of ivory colored pillars decorated with sculpted swirls at both the top and the bottom. 

Throughout the room stood various pedestals, some made from stone others from sturdy wood; some white, others gray, a few black. Each held works of art, primarily statues and sculptures but others with items that resembled vases and glass blown in exotic shapes.

Koenig whispered, "My God…"

Helena gasped and raised a hand to her mouth.

Victor paced in front of them, his shoes going click-click-click on the floor.

"Marvelous! Just marvelous, isn't it!"

They joined Victor among pedestals. John eyed one statue depicting a pair of slender humanoids twisting together in a passionate embrace. Helena ran her fingers over an abstract sculpture carved from wood in a series of intertwining roots that came together to form one oblong shape that, in its appearance, projected a very sensual aura.

Each piece held their attention for several seconds before they moved on to the next with an endless line of such works—hundreds of them—begging for their inspection. 

"Look here," Victor pulled their captivated eyes from more examples of brilliant art and held his hands aloft in reference to the entirety of the room. "No light bulbs, John. No _torches."_

Koenig and Helena shared a look and realized Victor's point. They were underground…where did the light come from?

"There, look," after he had their attention and had puzzled them with his observation, Bergman offered the answer. He pointed toward the intersection of the walls and ceiling where small openings—about a half of a meter in diameter each—honeycombed together in what, at first glance, appeared to be a concession to design. "Mirrors. Those openings must extend all the way to the surface at the top of this mountain. I think they're mirrors like what you might, oh, what you might find in a periscope. They're channeling sunlight down here."

"Amazing," Helena admitted. "However they did it, the lighting is so natural in here."

Koenig said, "This isn't by accident, Victor. We saw their city when we first landed. It was all art and beauty, but destroyed. This is the same but it's survived down here. Why? Is there a purpose?"

Bergman theorized, "You said that Paul and Tanya…whatever inhabits their bodies…you said they told you they had a purpose to paint the sky. Art, John, in the heavens."

"That's in keeping with the theme down here," Koenig agreed. "Everything we've seen is about aesthetics; about appearances."

"More than that," Helena added. "This isn't simple design. Even at the city we saw; art serves as a window into the soul, an exploration of the human condition."

Bergman followed her with, "Indeed, yes. I think it's fair to say that the people of this planet explored their artistic abilities the same way we explore science and mathematics. I imagine their poetry, songs, and literature were equally as spellbinding."

John: "Even their solar system, a concession to beauty."

"The question is, which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Helena responded to Bergman: "I don't follow."

Koenig recounted what Paul had said: "They came here to see if their work had influenced the people of this planet. That suggests they were out in space serving their purpose, not sent by the people of this planet."

"I'd say they influenced them," Helena agreed. "But why? And who are they?"

"Imagine," Bergman spoke, "if on Earth the gods of Olympus had been real. They valued beauty and passion. Had civilization's belief in those Gods continued through modern times or, more importantly, if those Gods had been real, I expect our own history would have been much different. Perhaps something more…well…more beautiful, as we find here."

"We had our share of poets and artists," Helena pointed out. 

Koenig said, "Yes, but our civilization became dominated by politicians, generals, and journalists. Not artists." Then to Bergman: "Do you think the people here are responsible for these entities?"

"The people of this planet may have been ordinary beings like ourselves," Bergman theorized. "I suppose it's possible that they were responsible for these entities that 'painted' their solar system, it's also possible that these entities were either sent from some more powerful civilization to purposely influence the evolution of this planet, or they are natural phenomena that existed here when Opal 4 spawned a sentient race. I doubt we will ever know the answer to that question. At least not entirely."

"It doesn't matter," Koenig asserted. "How we got here is not really important. We have to deal with the situation as it is."

"Agreed," Bergman nodded. "Two entities of extreme power have taken over the bodies of Paul and Tanya. "The question is…why?"

Commander Koenig jabbed the air with one pointed finger as he recounted, "They said they came here after finishing their work in the sky—"

"And found love," Helena finished for him.

"Well they certainly came to the right place," Professor Bergman said. "Look around you. If this was a world dominated by art and beauty, then I imagine this very spot—this island with its dramatic rock faces and panoramic view of the oceans—would make it the most romantic of places."

Helena added, "The works of art down here…most of them revolve around romance, passion, and love."

"John, I think you had better talk to them again. You need to find out exactly how they fell in love."  
"Does it matter, Victor?"

"Yes, I think it does," Bergman said. "I think it very much does, indeed."

Koenig nodded and led the trio from the underground chamber. They climbed the staircase and rejoined Carter and the security guards in the sunlight of a late afternoon. Koenig noted immediately that neither Paul nor Tanya had moved from the positions they occupied when last seen.

He approached Paul Morrow who, again, turned to face him. Tanya remained at her position on the overlook gazing at the white caps breaking around the island's rocky perimeter.

"You say you found love," Koenig asked. "What does that mean?"

Paul's eyes glazed over like an actor about to sing a sonnet to a lover.

"We came here…to this place…to observe the ones who lived here; to know if our works pleased them and fulfilled our purpose."

"And did they?" Bergman asked.

The entity ignored the Professor and continued, "Here…to this very spot…we descended from the sky unobserved. It was here that I found the man and slipped into his mind just as I have done with this one. But back then…I was not aware…could not be prepared…for what I found. "

"What you found?" Koenig repeated. "What does that mean? We don't understand."

"I thought the strength to shape a star was power, but it was nothing compared to what I found inside of him. I found a purpose greater than sculpting stars; a pull stronger than a black sun."

Paul's eyes widened. His face grew a slight shade of red.

He said, "His desire became mine. I took it. It filled me with purpose. A drive. A determination. Now there is only one reason for my existence…to possess her. The way he desired to possess her. It is more than my reason for existing, it is who I am."

"That's it, John!" Bergman cried.

Helena offered the answer: "He found a young man here; a man in pursuit of his love. And he took that emotion and made it his."

"It consumes me," Paul growled through clenched teeth. "But through this body I can be with her. All the previous hosts withered and died until there was none left, leaving me and her in only our purest forms."

"They destroyed this world," Bergman said. "You took each one of the people here but that possession destroyed them. People age, but you are eternal!"

"Yes…one after another we used them to satiate our desire until there were none left."

"That body does not belong to you!" Koenig insisted. "You have no right to it!"

"I care only about being with her," the entity said. "Nothing will stand in my way. I MUST possess her. I will do anything…destroy anyone…who stands in our way."


	5. Chapter 5

Paul's face turned red; a burning red driven by the angry emotion of the creature possessing his body. John Koenig, however, knew anger as well.

"You don't belong! That's not your body. You have no right!" And he waved a firm hand in the creature's direction.

"I will have her!" the thing moving Paul's lips said. "No power in the universe will keep us apart. She is my only love and I will follow her to the ends of eternity!"

Koenig nearly shook with rage but before he could launch his next volley, Professor Bergman rested a hand on his shoulder.

"John!" Then calmer: "John, wait."

Commander Koenig protested, "Victor, that's Paul Morrow in there and I'm not going to abandon him!"

"Listen…John…listen," and Bergman's voice calmed Koenig to the point that the entity inhabiting Morrow's form lost interested and retreated to his view of the ocean.

Helena moved closer and the three held a quiet conversation.

Professor Bergman said, "Look at them, John. Listen to what he says…but _look_ at what the two of them do."

Koenig and Helena glanced around. Morrow admired the view from the rim of the rotunda; Tanya stood statue-like at the other side of the area at the top end of a flight of short stone stairs, admiring the ocean view from another vantage point.

"If we're right then this…this fellow over here," Victor nodded toward Morrow, "came down to this planet and found a young man pursuing his heart's desire."

Helena concluded: "A girl."

"Yes, and I imagine this was the perfect spot for young lovers."

Koenig observed, "He keeps talking about possessing her; chasing after her. Now Victor, maybe his love went unrequited."

"She said she that they had found love," Helena recalled. "That sounds as if it _was _requited."

"I agree," Koenig nodded after some consideration.

Victor finished his original thought: "Then why are they not acting like lovers?"

Helena and John looked at the two entities once again. The 'young lovers' stood far apart and showed no interest in one another.

Bergman said, "Shouldn't they be acting a little more…well…intimate?"

"If they've been kept apart for so long, you would think they'd jump at the chance to be together," Helena spoke what they all thought. "But they don't appear interested."

"You have a theory, Victor. What is it?"

The Professor replied, "First, Helena, could you do me a favor? Could you go and talk to Tanya."

"Why me?"

"I think you might be able to form a bond with her. A woman to woman type of thing," Bergman admitted and smiled, lightly. "Please."

--

Back at Main Mission, Kano's computer came to life with the sound of a rapidly-moving printer. A small slip of paper rose from a slot. When it completed printing the computer offered a quick beep. Kano ripped the small stub free.

"Good news," he announced, pulling Sandra from her position by a window and Winter's attention from his console readings. "Computer has completed its calculations on the habitability of Opal Four."

"Oh?" Sandra's enthusiasm came across as distant; the promise of Opal Four had been on a different day. Today the Alphans' thoughts focused not on exodus, but on their friends on the surface. "What does computer say?"

"These calculations are based on current conditions and take into consideration--"

"What does computer say?" Winters interrupted.

Kano frowned in disapproval of the interruption. Still, he moved to the point.

"Computer says there is a 98.5 chance that Opal Four can sustain us permanently."

Winters picked up on the first caveat to Kano's news: "Based on _current _conditions?"

The computer expert nodded.

Sandra asked, "And if the storms return?"

Kano said nothing for a moment; he kept his eyes focused on the slip of paper. Then, with a sigh, he admitted, "In such case computer is less optimistic."

--

"Hello."

Tanya turned from her ocean view and offered Helena a soft smile and a reply: "Hello."

"My name is Doctor Helena Russell. Do you…do you have a name?"  
For all purposes, the question might not have been asked at all. Tanya gave her eyes to the ocean again and said nothing for several long seconds. Just before Helena gave up, the woman—the entity—spoke.

"This is a beautiful place. I feel content here."

Dr. Russell took the opening to spur more conversation.

"Is this where you came with your lover?"

"It is the only place we could come. The only place where we could be together. It is also…also…" Tanya bowed her head and closed her eyes. "…it is also the place where I broke his heart."

As had been the case with the entity inside Paul Morrow, Tanya's voice came across as overly dramatic; like dialogue from a cheesy romance novel.

Helena asked, "I don't understand."

The other woman sighed, smiled again—weakly—and said, "It is not your burden to bear. I should not trouble you with this."

"No, please," Helena stepped closer. "I would like to know."

A gust of wind blew Tanya's hair; she brushed it away from her eyes and blinked fast as if staving off tears. Far below waves crashed into the rocky island in a steady, even drone.

"I love him, you understand. Our two hearts are like one. But…but—"

"But what?"  
"But it is not so simple. It is not about one…or even two. For us to be together, it would cause difficulties for others. There are those who would not approve."

"Others? What others? Who?"  
Tanya merely repeated, "They would not approve. It would cause difficulties for me, for him, for others. It seems I cannot have what my heart desires."

She finally turned and faced Helena with an expression as forced as any bad actor doing Hamlet. "Do you understand?"

Helena did not know how to respond. She thought and decided to say, "I am very sorry. It must be quite difficult for you."

"You are a woman," she said to Helena. "You must know how it feels." She held her hands to her heart. "I can feel his desire for me, burning like fire. I do not wish to hurt him. It is my wish for us to be together."

Helena accidentally spoke aloud, "But that would cause difficulties."

"Yes! Yes you do understand," the entity seemed relieved to have found a kindred soul. "But now that I am here," and Helena felt the woman meant 'here' as in Tanya's body, "Perhaps there is hope for us."  
That hope—whatever it might be—did not appear as calming to the entity as it might otherwise sound. Indeed, an expression of melancholy—not relief—draped over her face.

Helena said, "Thank you for speaking to me."

"Oh do come back some time. I appreciate your company. I think you may be the only one who understands."

Helena felt unbalanced by the conversation; as if she had just spoken with a romance novel on tape stuck in a loop. She wandered back to the center of the open air rotunda where Victor waited. For his part, Commander Koenig consulted with Alan and the security guards. When he saw Helena's return he joined her and Victor.

Dr. Russell related her conversation to the men. Koenig grew more puzzled. Victor nodded as if the substance of the discussion with Tanya came as no surprise.

"I don't think she really knows what she's feeling," Helena summed things up. "Just like Paul. There is something there—some real emotion—but it's not developed."

"That doesn't do us any good," Koenig paced. "How do we get Paul and Tanya back? I'm not going to just leave them here."

"Well, John, I hesitate to point out the obvious but while these entities are inside the bodies of Paul and Tanya, they are not sweeping across this planet as storms."

Helena's jaw dropped and she spoke in an urgent tone, "You can't be suggesting what I think you're saying, Victor: We can't lose Paul and Tanya just to make this planet safer for us to live on."

Koenig agreed with her: "Victor, Helena is right. Besides, sooner or later they would move out of those bodies and seek new ones. We can't live here as long as those entities or the storms are a threat."

"We have to get Paul and Tanya back," Helena emphasized what she saw as the priority.

"Let's go over this one more time," Koenig took charge of the conversation. "If these two entities absorbed the emotions of two young lovers, why are they staying apart? Why all the trouble to take on these bodies only to stand around here and watch the ocean?"

Victor rubbed his chin and got his theory off his mind.

"We've already surmised that these powerful entities—machines or beings—were responsible for painting the sky of this system. They actually had the power to mold the space of this system all for the benefit of the people who lived here. We will almost certainly never understand why or if they are a natural phenomena or otherwise. Point is, eventually they came here to the surface and encountered two of the inhabitants of this planet, most likely right here on this very romantic spot."

"So we think these were two young lovers," Koenig jabbed the air with a finger. "And these entities merged with them."

"Perhaps even for the briefest of moments, " Victor added.

Helena said, "But long enough to understand love."

"Understand it?" Bergman repeated her words to lead them in his direction.

"Now wait a minute," this time Koenig scratched his chin. "Everything we've seen here suggests they know only a few simple emotions. Paul needs to possess her. She feels guilty for being with him, as if it is a forbidden love."

Bergman made a loose fist and bobbed it as he said, "A snap shot, John. Two adolescents in love. Maybe there is no stronger emotion, but not mature. What young man never felt compelled by such desire?"

"Or a young woman," Helena said, "Conflicted by what she thinks she wants and what others think is best for her. It's melodramatic. It's even cliché. But for a young couple it would feel intense and real."

Bergman nodded his head fast in agreement. "And here, in this romantic place in a society governed by their arts and passions, those feelings would be amplified to a tremendous degree. Enough, John, to make an impression on those entities."

Koenig's voice trailed off as he corrected, "Not an impression…a _purpose._ A new purpose to replace the old one they had completed."

Victor said, "So they've spent years—maybe hundreds of years or more—tearing apart this planet; chasing each other as storms or inhabiting bodies of those who lived here before."

"And then what? Nothing?" Helena's voice shook. "Look at them. They aren't lovers. They're just standing around doing nothing."

"Exactly, Helena," Koenig said. "They don't know any better. They're not lovers; they're prisoners of emotions. Limited, focused emotions specific to one exact moment in the lives of a young couple."

She repeated John's point: "Him…chasing after her and full of desire. Her…torn between what she wants and the need to leave him for the sake of others."

"Exactly," Bergman held a finger aloft. "But now that they've caught up with one another by using Paul and Tanya's bodies, they are stuck on hold. They don't know what to do! As storms they could never be so close, as people they can be. Yet still, there is no relationship and it will not progress or regress. It will not mature. They will not consummate their love in any fashion."

Helena raised a hand to her mouth and gasped, "How horrible."

"Well, I don't know," Bergman consoled. "Those are some very intense emotions. Those are the moments we remember. Certainly Shakespeare wrote a verse or two in the honor of such feelings. To be young and, admittedly, a little foolish but also so full of life. As relationships mature…well, some of the energy dissipates, of course. It's only natural. So perhaps they don't need our pity. Maybe they are experiencing something that many of us have forgotten. Oh, to be young again and to be in the grip of such raw emotion."

John glanced at Helena. She met his eyes and they quickly moved away. Koenig then returned to the more pressing heart of the matter.

"I don't care, Victor. I want Paul and Tanya back."

Helena—a little red in the cheeks—spoke, "I don't see how. We can't force them out; they're too powerful. And they finally have what they want."

"Do they?" Professor Bergman led and looked at Commander Koenig who returned his stare. In the process, the expression on both men's faces grew somber.

Helena spied a silent communication. Her eyes alternated between the two for a moment before she spoke.

"Wait a second. What is it? Is there a way?"  
John stood straight and breathed deep.

"There is a way."

Victor nodded his head, slowly, in agreement.

"Well, what is it?" Helena asked.

"It's to give them what they want. To give them their purpose back," Victor explained.

"And it's up to you, Helena," John said.

"Me? I don't understand."

"You've formed a bond with her," Bergman went on. "It's only natural. Paul's controller won't listen because it's not in his character now: he's independent, fierce, obsessed, and full of angry desire. And he has what his purpose dictates: he has her, here, in a matter of fashion. The chase has ceased."

"But not the girl," Koenig spoke softer. "Her state…she _wants_ to speak. She wants a confidant as any young girl would in that position. It's part of what the emotion imparted to her. The angst. The guilt. The feeling of being stuck."

"Are you—are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Helena's eyes grew wide. "No, I can't. It would be…it would be too cruel."  
Koenig's voice grew harsh: "Helena, it's the only way. And remember, we're not dealing with real people here. Just the echo of an emotion felt maybe thousands of years ago between two young people who probably died because of these energy entities. If we don't act, then Paul and Tanya—maybe more of us—will also die."

"Helena," Bergman drew out each syllable of her name in a tone of familiarity, "it may seem distasteful on the surface, but you'll be giving them back some kind of purpose at the very least. In their current state they're on hold; frozen, unsure what to do."

Her eyes alternated between the two men who kept their attention on her; their stares even more forceful than their words.

"Okay, if it's the only way to save Paul and Tanya, I'll do it," and Helena nodded her head as if forcing acceptance of the idea.

"John, you had better be prepared. If this doesn't work it could get messy. If it does work…"

"If it does," Koenig completed Victor's thought, "it could get even worse."

She gave them one last glance and then walked away from the men en route to Tanya's position at the top of the flight of stone stairs. The creature inhabiting Tanya's body stood at the top of those stairs a few meters away from Eagle One, parked there by the other entity when it—or he—tapped into Paul's knowledge of Eagle flight.

"Hello again," Helena approached her cautiously and she felt a hard pang of guilt when Tanya turned to her with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Hello dear friend," the entity replied as if they had known one another for years. Perhaps the emotion of angst and conflict gripping the being made it more receptive to the potential of friendship. Helena felt a sick pit in her stomach as she realized she would use that vulnerability as a weapon. "Is this not a beautiful view?"

"Yes, yes it is," Dr. Russell agreed, grateful for a delay to allow her to craft her words. "This is a beautiful world."

"That is why we painted their sky. To make something wonderful. It was our purpose. But that purpose seems so shallow now, compared to what I feel in my heart."

Helena smoothly opened the door she wanted to enter the entity's state of emotion. It scared her how easily the deception took shape.

"I envy the love you feel. Your are very fortunate."

"Yes, I am blessed to have found one who desires me so greatly."

The entity returned her view to the ocean and a slight smile tugged at her lips as if bathing in contentment.

Helena said in purposely vague terms, "But are you sure it is the right thing to do?"

The smile on the entities lips wavered.

"I have wondered, of course," her head bowed slightly. "I have wondered if it is selfish of me."

Helena dared a glance over her shoulder. She looked first at John and Victor who stood at a distance, watching. Then she looked in Paul's direction. His back remained turned to her, his own attention gazing out at his own view of the ocean.

"Perhaps…perhaps you need to consider the implications," Helena strummed the emotional cords like a guitarist crafting a sad song on his instrument.

The smile on Tanya's face dissipated completely. Her eyes closed and her voice spoke with a slight tremble vibrating behind the words.

"It is a torture to me. I am pulled in so many directions. Just once I wish I could do what I want, and not feel the pressure of others. They don't know him like I do."

"How could anyone know him like you do? He is your true love. They don't understand."

"You seem to understand," the thing wearing Tanya's body said in an almost hopeful tone. "You seem to understand it so…so well," and she sobbed.

That sick pit in Helena's stomach grew harder. Despite the repetitiveness and vagueness of the entity's words, Helena felt as if she manipulated a child's emotions. It felt cruel. A doctor's job is to heal, not bring pain, no matter how unreal that pain may truly be.

"I do understand," she played her role in the melodrama. "I understand that some times things aren't so simple. I understand that sometimes…sometimes love is not enough."

Tanya placed a hand over her eyes, trying to stifle tears.

"I try to do what is right," she cried softly. "I don't want to be selfish, but I do so love him. I wish they could understand…I wish things were different."

No specifics, of course, because no specifics existed. Only emotion. Only the effect without a cause. A book cover with no story inside. Nonetheless, the symptoms were of a kind Helena had witnessed a thousand times in reality, particularly in those days of her 'normal' life before the moon had left Earth's orbit.

"But they aren't different," Helena pushed with regret. "Is it right for you to cause so much pain for so many others just for your own benefit?"

"No…no it is not. Perhaps I should just end it," and the entity stepped toward the cliff as if a sacrifice might end the suffering.

Helena reached and grabbed her shoulder. She felt Tanya's flesh, and in that moment was renewed with a sense of purpose to complete the task before her. Only then would the true owner of that body be free.

"That's not the answer. That would only bring more pain and make another innocent suffer. The woman whose body you have possessed…she is innocent in all this."

The entity did not acknowledge Helena's words. Perhaps doing so would be like exposing stage props for the falsehoods they were.

Helena tried again: "You have to go. You cannot stay here. To do so would only make it worse."

"You think…you think I should run away again?"

Helena felt as if she betrayed the trust of a friend, but her mind knew she actually tried to help one; the friend imprisoned by the forlorn energy entity. She tried to think of what the villain in a romantic tragedy might say to cause a young heart to break and run.

"It's the only thing you can do. You owe it to the rest."

Helena had no idea who 'the rest' might be. She doubted the entity knew, either. They—the 'rest'—were merely a catalyst for her angst and heart ache.

Helena continued, "You owe it…you owe it to _him_. You can't let him be hurt any more."

Tears glistened on Tanya's cheeks. She sobbed softly.

"You're right…I know you're right I just don't want to face it."

"Then don't. Run away. Leave. Go as far as you can where you can't…where you can't…" Helena paused, swallowed hard, and summoned her resolve. "Where you can't hurt anyone anymore."

"I must end this agony," and Tanya stepped toward the edge of the cliff, eyeing the turbulent waters so far below.

Helena's eyes widened and she realized her intent. In that same instant she realized that any attempted suicide would mean death for Tanya's body but the entity within would—most certainly—live on.

"No!" Helena cried and grabbed her arm just as a brisk wind carried along the cliff face and blew past the two women. "You would only be hurting another person who does not deserve to be hurt."

"What? I don't understand?" Tanya faced Helena.

"You are in the body of another woman. You have taken her body," she dared address the entity out of character. It felt to Helena as if she broke the fourth wall of a stage play. "She has a life to live. She has love to give. If you jump…if you destroy yourself you will destroy her life, too. Is that what you want?"  
As she had hoped, the entity took the bait. The weight of yet another soul caught in this mysterious swirl of love and angst was enough to do the trick.

"Yes…yes you are right," she said to Helena in a voice eerily calm. "I must run away, but I will not hurt someone else."

A new voice shouted from the rotunda below.

"No! What are you doing? Leave her be!"

It was the entity inhabiting Paul Morrow. He had spied the conversation and overheard some of the words. Now the moved to stop the interference. Koenig, Carter and the security team shadowed him but at a distance.

Tanya spoke to him; pleaded: "I don't wish to hurt you! I never wanted that!"

"I desire only you! To hell with what the others say, I love you!"

"It's not that simple…it's never that simple…"

Tanya turned and faced the ocean at the top of the cliff. She spread her arms wide like a bird preparing to take flight. She closed her eyes and let the wind caress her face.

"No! Stop!"

Paul climbed the stairs. He moved too slow.

A field of sparkling blue power radiated from Tanya. Her body shook. Then like a bolt of lighting the energy arced toward the cloudless sky above.

Tanya slumped. Helena braced her fall.

Paul hurried to the ledge with John Koenig a step behind. The Commander worked around to Helena and helped hold Tanya.

Overhead, that blue bolt of power grew and expanded. The atmosphere came to life like water in a pot simmering to a boil. Bands of moisture swirled and formed into dark clouds surrounded by a glowing blue tint. The ocean waters raged; white caps grew from the seas like explosions of water. The wind became one continuous gust.

"What have you done! Come back to me!"

Paul stood at the ledge, his face burning red and one fist held aloft. The sensation of his anger radiated like a reactor going critical.

"John," Helena grabbed his attention.

Koenig saw Tanya's eyes flutter; her mouth work open and shut.

"W-what…what happened?"  
"Get her out of here," Koenig ordered and waved to his compatriots at the bottom of the stairs. Alan Carter responded and helped Helena move Tanya awat. The security team waited behind for their Commander's instruction.

The wind gusted down from the heavens carrying a salty mist on its wing. Koenig looked to the sky and saw a great swirl of clouds moving away from the rocky island. As that swirl moved, it grew; it grew into rings of turbulence; an intense storm of energy all tinted blue, from a source he could not identify. As it moved off, he saw a sapphire-hued rope of wind—a waterspout-- droop down and skip across the waters.

Paul stood there, watching the storm as it raced away, expanding as it moved.

Koenig marched over to him and spoke into his ear. He played the counter part to Helena's deception.

"Are you just going to let her go?"

"Come back!"

"She's not coming back. Do you hear me! She's run away again. Don't you want her? Isn't that your purpose?!"

The entity growled, "I MUST possess her!"

"You can't go after her in that body. You have to be the storm again. That's the only way you'll ever have her!"

"Yes! Yes! I WILL BE THE STORM!"

As Tanya had moments before, Paul held his hands aloft and closed his eyes. This time a great jet of red exited the human body which then slumped. Koenig threw his arms under Paul's shoulders as the life energy drained. Two seconds later the pair of security guards came and helped hold the man.

The second storm burst to life with incredible ferocity. The sky turned a shade of crimson red as if the clouds were Martian dust storms. Micro bursts nearly toppled the Alphans and great sheets of rain fell, soaking the ground almost instantly.

"Go! Hurry!" Koenig commanded and eyed Eagle One sitting atop the ledge where the entity had parked it while controlling Paul.

Then the whirlwind came: a red giant spinning over the ocean a half-mile wide. One edge of the monster slammed into the rim of the island. Koenig and the guards stumbled backwards. The crimson wind blasted the empty Eagle and sent it tumbling sideways off the ledge. Pieces peeled off in the gale; one of the landing gear was plucked away and the engine baffles were sucked off the tail end one at a time. Then the vehicle disappeared into the storm.

"This way! Come on!"

Koenig had to shout with every ounce of strength he could find in his lungs in order to be heard over the cacophony of wind. He tried to lead them down the stairs but the rain fell so hard and so strong that he could not find his way.

Then a hand grabbed his shoulder through the rain.

"John!" Came Professor Bergman's voice. He held his COMLINK up. "Follow Eagle Two's beacon! This way!"

Paul struggled free of the security team's grasp.

"What's going on? Where are we?"

"Paul. Move. Now. Do it!"

Koenig's urgent order cut through Paul's confusion and he followed his Commander's direction. The group descended the stairs with Bergman's COMLINK providing a path through near-zero visibility caused by howling winds and pouring rain. The rotunda provided no shelter; the storm blew the rain through horizontally.

"Carter and Helena are back at the ship!" Bergman said. "We have to get out of here, John. These storms—"

"These storms will tear us apart," Koenig finished the thought and they both knew he meant that the storms would not only tear apart the landing party, but any civilization—any home—built on Opal Four.

The gigantic tornado moved away from the island as part of the larger red storm forming overhead. It followed the blue storm out to sea where the chase would continue, perhaps for all eternity. The wind around the island slowed but did not die. The sound of thunder paired with the flash of lightning blanketing the landscape in a violent display of power.

They reached Eagle Two. Helena stood at the open door motioning the rain-soaked, bedraggled landing party onboard.

"Tell Alan to get airborne," Koenig told Bergman as they boarded. The Professor hurried to the forward cockpit while Helena shut the side door. Wind and rain drummed against the Eagle's hull.

"Commander," Tanya sat in one of the rows of passenger seats. "What happened?"

"Do you remember anything?" Helena asked as the engines spooled to life.

"No, nothing," Paul answered for her. "Except…except a feeling. _Something…"_ he slowly sat in a seat and pondered what he had felt.

Tanya echoed with one hand finding her heart: "Just a…a slight pain I think. But not my body, more my…my…"

"Your heart?" Bergman asked as he came forward from the cockpit.

Paul asked again, "What did we go through?"

Helena offered a half-smile as she realized her friends would survive, albeit with many questions.

She said, "This is going to take some explaining. It's very, well, unusual."

"Is it, Helena?" John countered as he took a seat next to her. "Or is it the oldest story in the book?"  
Eagle Two's rockets fired. Winds from the storm caused it to rock side to side, but the craft remained stable. Carter steered the ship away from the island, away from the storms, and into the sky of Opal Four…

--

--

The familiar chorus of beeps and buzzes filled Main Mission. Kano worked diligently at his computer console. Tanya sat at her own work station with Sandra hovering over her friend, waiting to see if she needed to talk about her experiences.

Paul strolled into the large room. Winters rose from the center seat to meet him.

"I'll take it from here," Morrow said with smile.

"Good to have you back," Winters patted his shoulder. "You okay?"

Paul glanced across the room at Tanya. She shared his look for a moment, then returned her attention to her own work with Sandra remaining nearby as if waiting to serve as a safety net.

"Dr. Russell says we're okay. I guess I'll just have to take her word for it."  
Paul slid easily into his familiar position at the head of Main Mission.

"Let's see what's on the menu for today."

He punched a button and the main viewer displayed the void of space waiting to greet the traveling moon as it finished its path through the Opal system.

"This looks familiar," Sandra noted, dryly. "And dull."

"I could stand a little dull for a while," Paul added.

The staff of Main Mission returned to their routines. As they had so many times before, they let that routine fill their minds and push away the sting of another near miss.

Overhead, on the balcony above, the sight of that near miss stood in the distance still visible to Helena's eyes. She could even see—faintly—the red and blue swirls chasing one another through the atmosphere of Opal Four. Professor Bergman and Commander Koenig stood to her sides, sharing the view.

"It was a beautiful planet," she mumbled.

"Yes it was," Bergman agreed. "If you really think about it, you might say that the entire civilization on that world was destroyed by, well, love."

Helena said, "The universe's most powerful emotion. In this case, an emotion incarnate."

"Love?" Koenig crossed his arms and eyed the planet in Alpha's wake. "Love is known by many other names."

"And in this case?" She asked.

He told them, "Passion. Obsession. That's what destroyed Opal Four, the same way it might destroy a man…or a woman."

"And they are stuck like that," she said, squinting to eye the blue and red spots on the planet. "For all eternity, knowing nothing but desire and pursuit and angst. Whether they are sentient or not, the storms have my pity."

"Oh, I don't know," Bergman offered his take. "Isn't that how young love is? Intense and confused. Sometimes directionless. Then we get older and we come to grips with our feelings. Comfortable, you could say." He scratched his chin. "Often times love and romance can be fleeting; mere moments in a life time to be cherished and remembered fondly. As the saying goes, it is better to have loved and lost…"

"But not for those two," Koenig said and his eyes wandered as he drifted into thought. "Two beings of energy, held captive in the grip of adolescent love that will never fade and will always feel new and urgent. You tell me, Helena. Is that Hell? Or is it Heaven?"

She did not have an answer. None of them did.

The red and blue storms spun across the turbulent atmosphere of Opal Four as the colorful planet hung in space like a beacon bidding farewell to the traveling moon.

series created by

Gerry and Sylvia

Anderson


End file.
